Shavkat Rakhmonov showed dominance in clinch and striking against Ian Garry

A detailed analysis of Shavkat Rakhmonov's fight against Ian Garry reveals several key strengths. Rakhmonov showed significant progress in his mid-range striking compared to his bout against Geoff Neal, consistently landing strong single shots including jabs, overhand rights, left hooks, and spinning backfists. He dominated the clinch for the first four rounds, regularly taking Garry's back and controlling him with deep underhooks. Rakhmonov became the only fighter in UFC history to successfully take Garry down in the center of the octagon, achieving this twice and taking mount position. The analysis notes that Rakhmonov's main weakness was his inactivity at long range, where he landed very few leg kicks and conceded significant points to Garry's kicking game. Despite this, Rakhmonov won the mid-range and close-range battles decisively, which are considered the two most important distances in MMA.